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Video: Fighting Wage Theft in New York »

March 3, 2010 | Mischa Gaus
GritTV reports on the arrest of owner of a New York boutique chain last week, charges that grew from a union-backed drive to remake retail by attacking its worst employers. (See this Labor Notes story for more on that).

A Nurse in Haiti's "Unfathomable Sea of Need" »

March 3, 2010 | Judy Sheridan Gonzalez

It is true what they say: no words or photos can describe the enormity of what we saw in Haiti. Nine of us nurses, eight from Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, just spent 10 days here volunteering at the public hospital in Port au Prince, working the night shifts.

Berkeley Gets Rolling Before March 4 »

March 1, 2010 | Eli Friedman

The student-worker movement that’s emerged in California over the past five months is gearing up for a strike and day of action. On March 4 students all over the state will strike, march, and occupy buildings to keep education accessible to all—and ensure sustainable jobs for those working in...

Budget Woes Prompt Privatization Fights in Public Transit »

March 1, 2010 | Evan Rohar

As budget-butchering legislators and executives slash away at public services and public workers, they’re reaching for a familiar tactic: privatization. Bus drivers at UC Berkeley have led the push back, scoring a victory against outsourcing in late February.

California Reformers Beat Appointees in SEIU Megalocal’s First-Ever Election »

February 28, 2010 | Larry Bradshaw

Reform forces from across Service Employees Local 1021 swept out appointed leaders in the local’s first-ever elections. The reform slate took 26 of 28 positions, including the top seven spots, in an important test of SEIU's "megalocal" model.

Get Ready for a Really Big Show »

February 26, 2010 | Tiffany Ten Eyck

Get ready for a really big show—the 2010 Labor Notes Conference is on track to be the biggest ever! It’s got to be a sign that more and more people are fed up with strategies that don’t work. Come find out what it feels like to be together with more than 1,000 other troublemakers who are...

Support Miners in Three Countries »

February 26, 2010 | Labor Notes Staff

Copper miners occupying pits in northern Mexico are bracing for an invasion by federal troops after refusing to give up their two-and-a-half year strike. In Southern California, borate miners are locked out, insisting that the good union jobs don't become “junk jobs.” And in Ontario, nickel...

NY Boutique Boss Arrested, Faces 4 Years in Jail for Stealing Wages »

February 25, 2010 | by Mischa Gaus

The owner of a New York boutique chain accused of shorting workers by $1.5 million was taken away in handcuffs Tuesday. The charges grew from a union-backed drive to remake retail by attacking its worst employers.

Who Are the Partners in Kaiser Partnership? »

February 25, 2010 | Mike Parker

Book Review: Healing Together: The Labor-Management Partnership at Kaiser Permanente, by Tom Kochan, Robert McKersie, Adrienne Eaton, and Paul Adler (Cornell ILR Press, 2009)


Most labor relations academics are unabashedly anti-union, reflecting the influence of business and the decline...

Charter Schools Iced, Los Angeles Teachers Win Bids To Run New Schools »

February 24, 2010 | Paul Abowd

Charter school companies in Los Angeles were licking their chops last summer when the school board gave outside managers a chance to operate 36 schools next year. After yesterday’s packed board meeting where officials voted to award 29 of those schools to teacher-led groups supported by United...

A ‘Nice Experience’ or a Job? Lecturers at Michigan School Say Part-Timers Need a Union, Too »

February 24, 2010 | Ken Wachsberger

Contract lecturers at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti are fighting a hostile administration over the right for part-time adjunct lecturers to join the lecturers' union. They're part of one-third of teachers not on the tenure track nationally who've been on the job at least five years...

GM’s “Northern Strategy”: Go Non-Union »

February 22, 2010 | Al Benchich

The “reinvention” of the “New GM” has begun with the opening of a lithium-ion battery plant in Brownstown, Michigan, near Detroit. The event was remarkable not only because the Brownstown plant signals GM’s return to the production of an electric vehicle but also because, for the first time in...

Senate Gridlock Cripples NLRB »

February 20, 2010 | Michael J. Goldberg

The National Labor Relations Board, crippled for years, will continue its dysfunction as political wrangling in the Senate and President Obama’s failure to make recess appointments leaves three of five board seats unfilled. That means Bush-era anti-union decisions will stay on the books for...

In Race to the Top, California Dragged To the Depths »

February 20, 2010 | Bill Balderston

President Obama’s “Race to the Top” fund sounds well-intentioned: the program will dole out more than $4 billion to “turn around” low-performing schools and set new curriculum standards that will produce students who can compete in the global economy.

Don't Subsidize Lousy Jobs, Say Teamsters in New York Warehouse Drive »

February 19, 2010 | Mischa Gaus

The mantra is jobs, and the government has unlocked the public coffers to subsidize employers that are hiring. But what kind of jobs are they creating with our tax dollars? In New York, the Teamsters are putting the heat on employers only too happy to pocket public money while creating lousy...

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